Photo by Dong Xu Wang

Hospital delivery is the dominant mode for pregnant women in China, and women are advised to go to hospital when labor starts. There is often a time gap during which women in labor wonder whether they should go to hospital or stay at home. Usually they go too early and end up waiting in the hospital for days—especially women in their first labor. This can cause increasing anxiety with the passing time, and the normal labor process will be interrupted by complex hospital protocols. But staying at home also brings anxiety because women and family members worry about the process of labor. There are several ways to resolve pre-labor anxiety: birth education, a maternity waiting home near hospital, and a center for normal birth will work in different ways to relieve the anxiety and help women have a natural birth.